houtsdg,
You've been given a lot of good advice. I'd just like to say that for deer hunting, a wide variety of cartridges, and cheap plinking ammo, you've perfectly described a .308 Winchester. It's cousin , the 7mm08 is also fine, but not a lot of cheap ammo. Either of these calibers in a Win model 70, Remington 700 or 7, or a Savage will do everything you will ever ask of it.